Sowing Peace
“Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.” – James 3:18
In the book “The Magnificent Story”, James Bryan Smith writes: “From 1992 to 1995 the world witnessed one of the worst civil conflicts, the Bosnian War. Three factions, each tied to a religion (Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks), began attacking one another in a struggle for power after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
The Serbs, backed by the Yugoslavian army, attacked the Croats and Bosniaks, but the latter two united and fought back. In the end no one was innocent of the bloodshed. Over 100,000 people were killed, 2.2 million people were displaced, and it is estimated that over 12,000 women were raped. In the midst of the ugliness and the suffering, beauty emerged to offer a different story.
As the mortar shells rained down on Sarajevo, a musician from Bosnia and Herzegovina named Vedran Smailović did the only thing he knew to do: he played his cello. In the midst of the destruction of buildings and the killing of his family and friends, Vedran played his cello—in full formal attire—alone in the ruins and in the streets, even though there was relentless sniper fire.
Vedran Smailović playing the cello in Sarajevo during the conflict no one knew when or where he would play, but as soon as someone heard him playing, the crowds grew. Grieving and starving, the people gathered to listen. Why? As Smailović said, “They were hungry, but they still had soul.”
In the midst of tragedy, his music echoed from another world, a place where beauty, goodness, and truth reside. Through Smailović—an instrument of God, I believe—the people found hope and healing. As he played his cello in the ruined city during the forty-four-month siege, Smailović inspired people around the world. Singer Joan Baez sat in solidarity with him as he played on the streets. Composer David Wilde wrote a piece for cello in his honor: “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” played by Yo-Yo Ma. Smailović became a symbol of how beauty stands in resistance to the madness of war.”
We all desire peace, but peace does not just happen; it is not the absence of war. Sowing peace is an action.
Praise the Lord that He is the ultimate example of sowing peace and in Him we can have peace in our hearts and share that peace with others.
“Peace reigns where our Lord reigns.” – Julian of Norwich
“The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” – Isaiah 32:17